


From Bark and Bone

by LurdOfTheGraveyurd



Category: Original Work
Genre: Body Horror, Ghosts, Haunting, Horror, Humor, Other, References to Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:02:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7745965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LurdOfTheGraveyurd/pseuds/LurdOfTheGraveyurd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High School students Cole, Tilly, and Sam decide to perform a séance in the woods near their homes in the spirit of Halloween. When nothing happens, they pack up and think no more of it. That is, until strange things begin to happen to them and their loved ones.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Bark and Bone

The chill of the autumn air was evident that evening, an obvious warning to the winter only a few months away, and it almost deterred the three teens trudging through the fallen leaves, or two of them, at least. Samuel snuggled his face deeper into his scarf, but it did little to help the bite of the cold on his nose, and all it really accomplished was to direct his breath upwards to fog his glasses. Matilda, or Tilly, as she liked to be called, shivered beneath her three sweaters, her dark hair tangling in the breeze, her hand tightening around the handle of the plastic bag she was carrying. While the two suffered silently at the encroaching hands of Jack Frost, Cole strutted smugly in front of them, not at all bothered by the dropping temperatures of the approaching night.

 

“Come on! You’re so slow. It’s not even that cold right now,” he yelled back at his shivering friends.

“That’s easy for you to say, you Nordic freak!” Tilly groaned. “I’m not built for this weather. I’m made for that Mexican heat, man!”

“Only your grandfather was Mexican. And you’ve never been past Northern California. How would you even-“

“Shhhh, let my genetics do the talking.”

 

Sam rolled his eyes at his friends’ antics. The whole reason they were out here was stupid, but it was almost Halloween, and he had to admit it was mildly exciting.

 

“How far is the clearing?” Sam inquired, pushing his glasses up his nose. “We need to hurry. You know how my parents are.”

“It’s just up ahead.” Tilly pointed to a break in the trees, visible about twenty feet from where they were. She grinned. “Are you ready for a spooky night of spooky, scary skeletons?”

“I’m so ready for spooky skeletons,” Cole grinned back as they reached the clearing.

The group walked into the middle, and Tilly began pulling out the contents of the bag.

 

An Ouija Board and a few candles.

 

Sam snorted. “Because you can totally contact the dead with a piece of cardboard.”

“This is not just any piece of cardboard!” Tilly gasped dramatically. “This one is special!”

“How so?” Sam asked flatly.

“It glows in the dark.”

 

After a moment of silence, all three burst into laughter. Many deep breaths and giggle relapses later, the group began to set up their wares.

“Okay, so we put the board in the middle, and put the candles at each corner,” Tilly instructed, “That’ll maximise the ghostiness.”

“This is so dumb,” Sam mumbled, “None of us even believe in ghosts.”

“During the day, I don’t believe in ghosts. At night, I’m a bit more open minded,” Tilly whispered lowly.

Sam deadpanned. “You stole that from the internet.”

“Oh, hush.”

 

Within a few minutes, the board was set up, its green glow slightly evident beneath the candles.

 

“Oh my god, that’s so gimmicky,” Cole snorted.

“Shhhh, you’ll scare away the ghosties!” Tilly whispered harshly. “Now, it’s time to get this spooky show on the road.”

The trio put a few fingers each on the planchette, and began their séance.

“Is anyone there?” Tilly called out. The planchette did not move, remaining still underneath their hands. Tilly cleared her throat.

“Does anyone want to talk to us?”

The planchette yet again remained, unmoving.

 

“Is there _anybody_?!” Tilly yelled, annoyed at the lack of results. Sam chuckled. Tilly removed her hands for a second and rubbed them together, the numbness in her fingers becoming more evident even with her gloves. She placed them back on the planchette, and sighed.

“If there’s anyone here with us, anyone at all, please talk to us.”

 

Suddenly, the planchette began to slowly edge towards “Yes” on the board. The three looked on with awe at this development. Tilly looked up excitedly at the other two and squealed a bit.

 

“Can you tell us who you are?”

The planchette did not move from its new spot.

“Are you dead?”

It moved across to the “No”.

Tilly looked puzzled.

“Weird,” She whispered. “Were you human?”

It moved to the “Yes”, and that’s when Tilly looked up at her companions and deadpanned as she noticed the two boys stifling a laugh.

“Holy shit. You were doing that the entire time.”

“I’m sorry,” Sam didn’t contain his laugh any longer, “You were taking it so seriously.”

Cole was also laughing now.

 

“You should have seen how serious you looked, like you were filing taxes with the ghost or something,” He wheezed through his laughter.

“I don’t know what I expected,” Tilly said flatly. “Right. Do either of you want to keep this up?”

“Hell no.” The boys answered in unison.

“Well, that was a waste of time then,” Tilly groaned. “Thanks for nothing, ghosts! And don’t think you two are off the hook!”

The boys held up their hands innocently and began to blow out the candles.

They packed up their things quickly, eager to escape the cold seeping into their bones.

 

As the group began to leave the clearing, they all froze in their tracks at a sudden, unfamiliar sound. A quick scuttling was heard behind them, like claws on the hardened, cold dirt. They dared not move as the sound continued, the thing moving across the leaves scattered on the ground, the scraping growing ever louder as they realised in horror whatever it was had gotten closer, and was in fact approaching them. The terrified teens all looked at each other, and in a glance, they decided what to do.

They all whirled around in a burst of panicked bravery to face the source of the frightening sound. In the centre of the clearing, where they had set up their séance was… was…

 

A raccoon.

 

“Jesus H. Christ!” Cole shouted at the sight of the fluffy creature. “I almost crapped myself!”

“Agreement,” Sam sighed, taking in deep breaths.

“Let’s get out of these creepy ass woods before all of Snow White’s fuzzy friends come to scare us to death,” Tilly said as she tried to calm her pounding heart.

And with that, they ran out of the woods as fast as they could without tripping over roots and logs, laughing at the absurdity of their excursion and the fright they had.

 

As they ran back to the warmth and comfort of their homes, their families, the light, the raccoon watched after them, its eye shine glowing yellow, having caught the ray of moonlight that broke through the clouds. But its eyes were not the only pair glowing in that clearing, watching the teens run away from the forest, from the dark, from what they had awakened and disturbed.


End file.
